


Odds and Ends

by CausticCupcake



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, BABIES BABIES BABIES, Baby!Fic, Dean/Castiel - Freeform, Destiel - Freeform, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn, hospital!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:45:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2301986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CausticCupcake/pseuds/CausticCupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel Novak is nervous about seeing his best friend, Dean, again. They haven't seen each other since Dean's wedding and that was almost 3 years ago. If possible, he's even more nervous about meeting his new niece. But what he finds at the hospital is more than he was expecting, and the future of his relationship with Dean is about to change drastically.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Odds and Ends

Castiel was anxious to get to the hospital.   
His little niece had been born before his plane had landed and he'd be damned if he missed out on one more minute of seeing her. Okay, so maybe he was a little excited to finally meet this bundle of joy that had been the center of his best friends' universe for the last 9 months. But it was more than that—he hadn't seen Dean since his wedding 3 years ago. Sure they talked regularly, calling each other up to discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones or about last Wednesday's baseball game (I'm telling you Dean, the Sox are gonna make it all the way this year! World Series, baby!). They even got teased mercilessly by Dean's wife, Lisa, about the amount of time they spent playing Xbox together online.   
They met in a state-mandated support group for kids that came from “problem homes”. Dean was fourteen and Castiel was sixteen. They were both so disturbed at the time, no one thought twice about the age difference—why would they when there were more pressing issues surfacing? Dean had been through the system once already, picked up for petty theft. In group he always talked about how he stole some guy's wallet or maybe took a lady's purse out of her shopping cart, but one night after Castiel pressed enough he admitted that he really got caught trying to steal a couple Lunchables for his kid brother, Sam. The shop keeper just happened to be a notorious asshole and decided to press charges despite the cop's protests.   
Castiel had been placed in the same stupid group because his guidance counselor at school was an idiot (but obviously he harbors no hard feelings). His teachers started complaining about him after they realized that he hadn't said a word since the beginning of the school year—this had been right before Thanksgiving. Once the school got involved, they discovered that his parents had died in a horrific car crash over the summer with his baby sister, Anna. He had started living with his grandmother, who took fabulous care of him, but his mental health was suffering. So he had stopped talking for a while. And maybe “a while” had turned into 4 months. So what? He didn't really feel like he had anything interesting to say anyway. But sure enough, after weeks of communicating through shrugs and head tilts, Dean Winchester had managed to yank a few words out of him. 

As the taxi pulled into the driveway that looped in front of the hospital's main entrance, Castiel was drawn from his thoughts. His stomach tightened with misplaced nerves. He was about to see his best friend and his wife for the first time since their wedding. And now he was going to meet his niece who was only hours old—he didn't even know her name! Castiel gathered his thoughts in addition to his duffel bag and the ridiculously over-sized stuffed puppy he had picked up weeks in advance—a gift for his niece. He had already sent flowers for Lisa while he was waiting to board his plane at the airport.   
He paid the driver and paused in front of the doors of the hospital, taking a deep breath of disinfectant-free air before crossing the threshold. The second the door closed behind him, the world felt different. There was a kind of buzzing energy in the air that was only found in hospitals, a sort of organized chaos that both comforted and overwhelmed him. The lobby was wide open, with standard-issue hospital couches and chairs made of a scratchy-looking material that was covered in a god-awful pattern. A large desk sat in the far corner of the lobby, across from the elevators. Two women sat behind the large oak desk, answering phones and clacking away on computers. Castiel couldn't help the spring in his step as he strode over to the desk and leaned on it, waiting for one of the women to give him their attention.   
“Hi there!” Peeped an older looking redhead, swiveling her chair away from her computer and toward him. She spoke with a Midwestern accent and her smile touched her eyes. Her name tag read “Judy”.   
“Salutations.” Castiel said, smiling warmly. “I'm looking for the maternity ward.”  
Judy beamed at Castiel, her eyes twinkling. “Congratulations!” She said. “Brother or uncle?”  
“Too old to be a brother. I'm an Uncle today.” He said, his heart squeezing at the thought.   
“I knew you weren't dad. Or if you were, you wouldn't be for long—you're a little late.” She teased with a wink. “Take the elevators up to the fourth floor. It's a bit of a hike from there, but there are plenty of signs. Can't miss it. Oh, and you'll need to sign in and get a visitor badge at the front desk.” She leaned closer to him. “Don't forget to do that, or they'll kick you out. The ladies up there are very particular about who gets to be around those babies.”   
He chuckled at the serious expression she was making behind her bright purple glasses and nodded.   
“Fourth floor. Visitor badge. Got it. Thank you very much, Judy.” He straightened and turned for the elevators.  
“No problem! Congratulations!” She called after him.

He stepped into the elevator, readjusting his duffel bag and taking another calming breath. This was it. The metal box stopped and dinged just before the doors opened up to the maternity ward. Sure enough, the first thing he was greeted with was a gigantic neon yellow sign that read “ALL VISITORS MUST SIGN IN AT FRON DESK”. He chuckled again, realizing that Judy really wasn't kidding, then made his way to the front desk.   
The nursing station sat in the middle between two long corridors, again two women sat behind the desk, each working away at their computers. The one on the right looked up at him and gestured toward the clipboard sitting on the counter, then turned back to her computer. Castiel studied the sign-in sheet and filled in his information after a moment. Common information such as his name, who he was visiting and the time he signed in. He completed the line and slid the clipboard back to the nurse behind the counter. She read his neat block letters and frowned, turning towards him and really getting a good look. She gestured towards the pleather-y chairs in the lobby with a solemn expression.   
“Wait there, dear. Dr. Masters needs to speak with you.”  
Feeling a knot of worry settle in his chest and with his eyebrows pulled together, Castiel took a seat in one of the chairs facing the desk. Hopefully there wasn't anything serious going on and it was just standard practice to have the doctor meet with visitors. Maybe he needed a tutorial on scrubbing his hands clean or something arbitrary like that. Before he could speculate further, a woman with blonde hair and green eyes in a lab coat strolled to the desk. The nurse who instructed him to sit gestured towards Castiel and the woman in the lab coat nodded, making her way over to him.   
“Mr. Novak?” She asked with a smile, holding a hand out.   
Castiel scrambled out of his seat and nearly tripped over his discarded duffel in his haste.   
“Yeah, hi. Are you Dr. Masters? Is everything okay with the baby?”   
Dr. Masters pressed her lips into a thin line, choosing her words carefully.   
“She's currently in the NICU under observation. She managed to get some fluid in her lungs during delivery, although it's fairly common and I'm sure she'll be fine after a few days. It's mostly a precaution.”   
Cas let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he ran his fingers through his hair.   
“Oh, thank god. The woman at the desk said you needed to speak with me and I immediately thought the worst. Jesus. It's a girl? The baby's a girl? I have a niece?”   
The doctor's smile was guarded as she nodded and the fleeting happiness Cas felt about his new niece was quickly stomped out.   
“Oh, Jesus. What is it? I thought you said the fluid thing was fairly normal?”  
“Mr. Novak.” She said, hesitating as if she didn't know how to go on.   
A knot of worry quickly settled itself in the pit of his stomach as his heart started beating faster.   
She cleared her throat and tried again. “Mr. Novak, I'm very sorry to inform you of this but, there was a... a complication during the delivery. Do you know what maternal hemorrhaging is?” She asked, taking a step closer.   
Castiel shook his head, unable to speak and sitting heavily in the standard-issue, uncomfortable hospital chair.   
“There are a lot of different things that can cause it.” She began, seating herself across from Castiel and crossing her legs gracefully. “In fact, it's fairly common, resulting in about one in fifty deliveries. One of the most common causes occurs when the placenta passes and opens up blood vessels in the uterus.” She searched his face as if tying to tell if he were following her.   
“Uh-huh.” He managed after clearing his throat.  
“Now, in most cases, it's possible for us to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, there are some cases where the bleeding can't be stopped and we need to take the mother into immediate surgery to try to stop it.”   
Castiel braced himself, knowing what was coming next. Not Lisa. God, please, not Lisa. The nurse leaned forward and placed a hand on his knee. Her green eyes locked onto his, and time stopped momentarily.   
“Mr. Novak, we had one of our best surgeons perform her procedure. He did everything he could to stop the bleeding, but he just couldn't. I'm so sorry, Mr. Novak. Mrs. Winchester didn't make it.”

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.


End file.
